31 I made a covenant with mine eyes;
How then should I look upon a virgin?
^2 [a]For what is the portion from God above,
And the heritage from the Almighty on high?
³ Is it not calamity to the unrighteous,
And disaster to the workers of iniquity?
⁴ Doth not he see my ways,
And number all my steps?

⁵ If I have walked with falsehood,
And my foot hath hasted to deceit
⁶ (Let me be weighed in an even balance,
That God may know mine integrity);
⁷ If my step hath turned out of the way,
And my heart walked after mine eyes,
And if any spot hath cleaved to my hands:
⁸ Then let me sow, and let another eat;
Yea, let ^[b]the produce of my field be rooted out.

⁹ If my heart hath been enticed unto a woman,
And I have laid wait at my neighbor’s door;
¹⁰ Then let my wife grind unto another,
And let others bow down upon her.
¹¹ For that were a heinous crime;
Yea, it were an iniquity to be punished by the judges:
¹² For it is a fire that consumeth unto ^[c]Destruction,
And would root out all mine increase.
¹³ If I have despised the cause of my man-servant or of my maid-servant,
When they contended with me;
¹⁴ What then shall I do when God riseth up?
And when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?
¹⁵ Did not he that made me in the womb make him?
And did not one fashion us in the womb?

¹⁶ If I have withheld ^[d]the poor from their desire,
Or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
¹⁷ Or have eaten my morsel alone,
And the fatherless hath not eaten thereof
¹⁸ (Nay, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father,
And her have I guided from my mother’s womb);
¹⁹ If I have seen any perish for want of clothing,
Or that the needy had no covering;
²⁰ If his loins have not blessed me,
And if he hath not been warmed with the fleece of my sheep;
²¹ If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless,
Because I saw my help in the gate:
²² Then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder-blade,
And mine arm be broken from the bone.
²³ For calamity from God is a terror to me,
And by reason of his majesty I can do nothing.

²⁴ If I have made gold my hope,
And have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence;
²⁵ If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great,
And because my hand had gotten much;
²⁶ If I have beheld ^[e]the sun when it shined,
Or the moon walking in brightness,
²⁷ And my heart hath been secretly enticed,
And ^[f]my mouth hath kissed my hand:
²⁸ This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judges;
For I should have denied the God that is above.
²⁹ If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me,
Or lifted up myself when evil found him
³⁰ (Yea, I have not suffered my ^[g]mouth to sin
By asking his life with a curse);
³¹ If the men of my tent have not said,
Who can find one that hath not been filled with his meat?
³² (The sojourner hath not lodged in the street;
But I have opened my doors to ^[h]the traveller);
³³ If ^[i]like Adam I have covered my transgressions,
By hiding mine iniquity in my bosom,
³⁴ Because I feared the great multitude,
And the contempt of families terrified me,
So that I kept silence, and went not out of the door—
³⁵ Oh that I had one to hear me!
(Lo, here is my ^[j]signature, let the Almighty answer me)
And that I had the ^[k]indictment which mine adversary hath written!
³⁶ Surely I would carry it upon my shoulder;
I would bind it unto me as a crown:
³⁷ I would declare unto him the number of my steps;
As a prince would I ^[l]go near unto him.
³⁸ If my land crieth out against me,
And the furrows thereof weep together;
³⁹ If I have eaten the ^[m]fruits thereof without money,
Or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life:
⁴⁰ Let ^[n]thistles grow instead of wheat,
And ^[o]cockle instead of barley.